Plenty of Christmas Cheer for Broadway as 18 Shows Break $1M

NEW YORK—Fans of Broadway gave theater producers reasons to smile this Christmas, with 18 of the current 37 shows breaking the $1 million mark for the week, led by «Hamilton,» the new Andrew Lloyd Webber production «School of Rock – The Musical» and Disney’s «Aladdin» and «The Lion King.»The Broadway League said Monday that the shows on the Great White Way pulled in $36,271,797 for the very mild weather week ending Sunday, much better than the previous week’s $29,484,797 but more than $4 million less – and with 19,000 fewer people attending overall – than the same week last year, when 36 shows attracted $40,993,950 and 318,721 ticket buyers.

«Aladdin» grossed $2,095,363 for eight performances, a new house record at the New Amsterdam Theatre. That haul surpassed even its nine-performance record of $2,078,163 set this summer.

«The Lion King» broke the eight-performance-week house record at the Minskoff Theatre with $2,587,925. (The touring version of the show, currently in Chicago, set the Cadillac Palace house record with a gross of $1,810,167.)

«School of Rock – The Musical» pulled in $1,506,236 for the week, setting a new house record for an eight-show week at the Winter Garden Theatre, beating the old record there held by «Mamma Mia!» set in 2009.

Numbers for the first week of January – traditionally one of the slowest times on Broadway – will look far worse when a flood of shows close, including «Hand to God,» «Sylvia,» «Dames at Sea» and «A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder.»

Some other shows that enjoyed Christmas week include «Wicked» with $2,400,920, «The Book of Mormon» at $1,891,356, «The King and I» with $1,094,022, and the new offerings «Hamilton» at $1,844,837, «On Your Feet!» with $1,239,109, «Something Rotten!» at $1,005,546 and the revival of «Fiddler on the Roof» at $1,339,255.